Social media has transformed how entrepreneurs stay connected to their business, their team, their customers and their industry.
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With an ever-changing social media landscape, your social media marketing plan must continue to be dynamic.
By being cognisant of the latest trends, it will help you design better strategies, use the most effective tactics and spend more efficiently. Here are the top 5 trend you should be very aware of:
1. SEO, Content Creation and Social Media Must Happen Together
No way around this one. These three are the cornerstones of online marketing. They must happen in tandem for a strategy to work properly.
Content drives SEO. Social media drives content. Social media aids in SEO. These really are the fundamentals of brand strategy online.
2. Photos and Videos are King
Many would have said this, but it is still worth mentioning. Nearly 70% of social media contains imagery. Pinterest, for many businesses, has created such brand loyalty and recognition. It's been found that 29% of people that see something on the social media network and re-pin it, end up purchasing the product! Incredible!
3. The Rise of Google+
I've said this to many of my clients and also in my Social Media Matters sessions, Google+ is the next big thing in social media.
Why?
For one, Google's algorithm for organic search listings has put increasing weight on Google+ content. I don't see this slowing down as the San Francisco tech giant strives for total domination.
It's pretty well-known that Twitter and Facebook's accessibility issues cause issues when it comes to SEO rankings. In fact, they have no impact on those scores at all. Google+ can be crawled freely, therefore having a strong impact on your brands' page rank.
Google+ also provides access to Google Authorship, which, by years end should have big time weight in organic search results.
4. Facebook's Algorithm Will Hurt Strategies that Rely Solely on Facebook Marketing
As you may have already heard, Facebook's algorithm for brand pages is causing a significant drop in content views. This study goes as far as defining that number at 94% (meaning only 6% of your followers are even seeing your content on their newsfeed).
As the old adage goes "don't put all your eggs in one basket". This has never rang truer in terms of social media strategy. Facebook is looking to bolster a revenue stream that has, until know, been lackluster. What this means is that depending on one social media channel can, ultimately, kill your business.
As with traditional methods, consistent messaging is so important. Making sure that content is constantly filtered and branded to be in line with your overall culture or strategy is what sets one brand apart from another.
Many take the approach of "build it and they will come".
Sorry to say, but that does not work with online marketing. Engagement is an art form and must be perfected. Companies such as Buffer have done an amazing job internally with their culture, that they value the engagement of each and every user of their product.
If there is anything we have learned in social media and online marketing, it's that, those who remain flexible are the ones to prevail. Don't be afraid to step out of the box when devising a strategy and don't be afraid to experiment.
Agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts on social media trends for 2014?
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